Ontario restricts pesticide linked to bee deaths

LONDON, Ont. — Ontario is slashing farmers’ use of a controversial seed-coating pesticide that has been linked to mass bee die-offs across Ontario.

In the first phase-down of neonicotinoids in North America, the coating, used on almost all corn seeds and most soybeans planted on about five million Ontario acres, will be allowed on only 80% of the acreage by 2017.

"This action is needed and in some ways overdue," Lisa Gue, a senior researcher and analyst with the David Suzuki Foundation, which has been pushing for greater restrictions on neonicotinoid use, said.

"Tough and timely action is what is needed to avert an ecological disaster. This isn’t hyperbole. There has been a blossoming of research about the harmful, unintended consequences of these chemicals contaminating the environment."

But opponents and proponents fear this is just the start of a much longer and more wide-ranging battle.

Beekeepers worry there are other, worse pesticides ready to hit the market, while farmers say it’s one more rock in an urban-centric salvo to cripple their livelihoods.

Soybeans and corn are Ontario’s two major crops, and southwestern Ontario is the heartland of their acreage in the province.

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) was abuzz with the news at its annual meeting, where farmer Don McCabe is newly elected president.

McCabe said the group will frame a detailed response that emphasizes the province must take a scientific approach, and not an emotional response, to crop and pollinator health.

He said the move will cost farmers millions in lost productivity.

The Ontario Beekeepers Association has just 800 members, 250 of whom are commercial beekeepers. The OFA has 37,000 members.

Beekeepers say they have research on their side, with the European Union having banned neonics, the Pest Management Regulatory Agency of Canada having called neonic use "unsustainable" for bee health and more than 100 scientists having backed the call for more restricted use of the pesticide.